


Where Once We Walked

by LadyNorbert



Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Dalish Elves, F/M, Fluff, Pre-Dragon Age: Inquisition, Weddings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-08
Updated: 2018-10-08
Packaged: 2019-07-27 23:10:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 963
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16229240
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyNorbert/pseuds/LadyNorbert
Summary: "It's a damn fine story. Shame nobody found it 'til now." - Varric Tethras





	Where Once We Walked

**Author's Note:**

  * For [dawnstone](https://archiveofourown.org/users/dawnstone/gifts).



> Our dear Dawnstone requested something happy for Ameridan and Telana. I hope you like it!
> 
> The Dalish wedding vows are taken from the Trespasser DLC, if a Dalish Inquisitor marries Cullen or Sera.

_Telanadas. Nothing is inevitable._

Nothing, perhaps, except that Ameridan would fall in love with her.

He sometimes thought that Telana had not been born so much as she had simply been breathed into being. Nothing about her felt entirely real. Even her coloring - long pale hair, so bright it was almost white, and eyes of twilight blue - seemed to suggest that a star had fallen from the heavens and danced its way into elven shape. The Creators, or perhaps Andraste, or all of them together, had determined that he needed someone to walk at his side, and thus Telana had been given to him.

Was there a time when he hadn't loved her? He couldn't remember it, if there was. As children they had played together in the shade of the trees in the Dales, ancient trees which held memories of Arlathan in their branches. Both mages, they had faced the development of their talents together; to Ameridan alone had Telana confided her terror as she learned of her gifts as a  _somniari_ , a Dreamer. These were among the most powerful of the elven mages, but also the ones who suffered the most for their talent. 

"You'll be all right," he told her. "You are stronger and braver than entire clans put together."

* * *

Nothing, however, went according to plan.

Given the option, Ameridan would have stayed among his people, guided them, nurtured the young mages. But Drakon - his oldest friend, second in his affections only to Telana herself - was Emperor of Orlais, and he all but begged Ameridan to take up the post of Inquisitor. It was something he didn't want; hunting demons was a noble enough request, but he could do that without all the pomp and snobbery of a formal title. Besides, he thought, the Inquisitor should be human. Would the humans even listen to him? There were stirrings of restlessness between the two peoples.

"I need you," Drakon had said. His face was almost as young and earnest as it had ever been, even though he was no longer either. "The people need a leader who will inspire loyalty, not fear. The Inquisition has too long done the latter and not the former. But you are a man of honor, a man to whom people will turn their eyes and trust."

So Ameridan had taken the role, reluctantly, in part because Telana had agreed with Drakon's assessment. He guided the Inquisition through the start of the Divine Age, as Drakon's only female general was appointed leader of the Chantry and given the title of Divine Justinia. He governed the changes as the Inquisition split into two factions, the Templar Order and the Seekers of Truth; the Templars would oversee the mages, and the Seekers would oversee the Templars, and he - in theory - would oversee them both. He tried, he truly did, but it wasn't long before another change came.

"The people in the southern mountains, the ones who call themselves Avvar - they have a  _dragon_ , Ameridan. It's already laid waste to part of my realm. I don't know what they intend, but I need it stopped." Drakon was older and more tired than Ameridan had ever seen him. 

A dragon... he could fight a dragon, he thought. "What must I do?"

"Gather your closest allies, beyond myself. Take Haron, and that dwarf chemist - take Telana if you think it wise - and go. Find the Avvar. Kill the dragon. Please, my old friend, I beg of you to save my people. Our people, because the dragon will no more spare the elves than the humans," Drakon added. "I can stave off the darkspawn threat, but I cannot face that and a dragon both."

* * *

Before they set out, however, Ameridan had one request.

"I do not know what is to come, Telana," he said, gathering her soft hands in his own. She blinked at him, her wise eyes reflecting the starlight. "And I wish you would stay behind where you can be safe, and guide the People in my stead."

She shook her head. "Where you go, I go."

"I know. And if our positions were reversed, I would say the same," he replied. "So before we go, I would ask that you become my wife."

"Ameridan, there is no time!" She smiled in spite of the refusal. "How can we arrange a wedding now, when we've a dragon to fight?"

"We can have a proper one later, if you wish. I just need to speak the vows to you," he replied. "Before the Creators, the Maker, Andraste - before anyone who will listen, I want to say them."

She softened. "Then yes, let us speak them."

They assembled under the ancient trees one last time, as the sun rose. Haron and Orinna were there, with Drakon, to witness the exchange. "From here we will make our way south to the Avvar lands, and pursue the dragon," said Ameridan. "But before we go, Telana and I have this to say to one another." He took her hands once again. " _Sylaise enaste var aravel. Lama, ara las mir lath. Bellanaris._ "

"That's lovely," said Orinna. "What does it mean?"

"We ask Sylaise - the hearthkeeper, the goddess who blesses homes and families - to honor our union," Ameridan explained. "And we pledge that we belong to each other, and will love one another eternally."

"And so it is," Telana replied. " _Sylaise enaste var aravel. Lama, ara las mir lath. Bellanaris._ " She tilted her head upward to receive Ameridan's kiss, and their friends clapped politely.

"May your journey be fruitful, your return swift, and your happiness assured," said Drakon warmly. "Now go, my friends. The sooner you leave, the sooner you come home."

* * *

 _Telanadas. Nothing is inevitable_.

Nothing, except that they would keep their promise to each other.

 

 


End file.
